You’re Overlooking a Source of Diversity: Age

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Megan Gerhardt, management professor at Miami University, studies the impact of generational conflict on organizations. She says too many leaders see generational lines as a source of division that hurts productivity. But her research shows that age is often an untapped source of diversity. When age-diverse teams are managed well, members share more knowledge, skills, and networks with each other. To foster intergenerational collaboration, she lays out a four-part framework that starts with questioning assumptions and ends with embracing mutual learning. Gerhardt is a coauthor of the HBR article "Harnessing the Power of Age Diversity.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you got the job. Now what? Join me, Eleni Mata, on HBR's new original podcast, New
0:08.1	Here, the Young Professionals Guide to Work, and how to make it work for you. Listen for
0:13.9	free wherever you get your podcasts. Just search New Here. See you there!
0:30.0	Welcome to the HBR IDA Cast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Kurt Nickish.
0:42.0	Culture classes between different generations are an age-old story, and today is
0:54.5	technology speeds up and social media floods are lives. It can feel like those
0:59.2	generational divides are wider than ever. But what if multiple generations is
1:04.4	not a source of conflict but rather a source of strength in an organization?
1:09.2	The research of today's guests suggests that generational differences are an
1:13.9	overlooked store of diversity within companies because workers of different
1:18.4	ages bring diversity of thought, perspectives, and experiences. That's why
1:23.0	she says it's time to question our assumptions of age, find more constructive
1:27.2	ways to work together across generational lines and unleash the hidden value
1:32.0	of the multi-generational workforce. And she's here to share how to go about
1:36.0	doing that. Megan Gerhardt is a management professor at Miami University and a
1:41.1	co-author of the HBR article, Harnessing the Power of Age Diversity.
1:46.1	Megan, thanks for coming on the show. Hello, thanks for having me.
1:53.5	Maybe we should get this out of the way. What generation you and I each are in
1:58.4	and the stereotypes that others have about our generations?
2:01.5	Sure, so I'm a Gen Xer, proud Gen Xer. Known as the slacker generation,
2:06.9	unfortunately, it's our our stereotype. Certainly our generation has been
2:13.2	Harnessed with stereotypes about the idea that we are independent but that our
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